Book 14: Chapter 11: A Play

“What he wants to say is.”

The black dark-silk coat draped over the shoulders of the Eldest Young Master, Yeon So-hyeon, fluttered.

“In order to be of even a slight help to the future of the Main Family. While uncovering the treason at the time, all of your martial brothers.”

The hand that the Eldest Young Master, Yeon So-hyeon, raised sliced through the air with a soft swipe.

“...Were personally dealt with by me, is what he means.”

* * *

“……”

Those gathered in the grand banquet hall.

“……”

In the suffocating silence, they could suddenly catch a thick, metallic scent of blood.

“…Those words. Ten-odd years ago.”

The Great Master of the Kongtong Sect opened his mouth with difficulty.

“Are you saying that the rumor of the Eldest Young Master personally causing that bloodbath is true?”

At that question, everyone's attention was focused on the Eldest Young Master, Yeon So-hyeon.

“……”

But, today's Yeon So-hyeon was different.

“……”

Until now not once, whether officially or unofficially, Yeon So-hyeon had never once clarified his stance regarding the bloodbath.

“Indeed.”

At that reply a stir broke out from the breathless crowd like a collapsing dam.

“As expected, the Eldest Young Master…?!”

“But. Back then, the Eldest Young Master was merely a kid who wasn't even ten years old…!”

Inside the considerably spacious grand banquet hall after the murmuring crashed back and forth like waves, the Eldest Young Master opened his mouth.

“To be. A bit more precise…” today's Eldest Young Master.

For some reason, unlike usual.

He calmly laid out the events of that time from his own mouth.

“To be precise, it was not that I caused the bloodbath first. It was the rebels plotting treason first.”

Yeon So-hyeon lightly— shrugged his shoulders as if it were nothing.

“At that time, what I did was. Simply executing the duty I ought to perform as the Eldest Young Master of this family.”

“Though I do not know if such a grandiose name as 'bloodbath' is really necessary for it.”

At those words, the crowd wore dismayed expressions.

“……”

Although the Eldest Young Master himself spoke of it nonchalantly that bloodbath, where those prominent and numerous power holders were wiped out in just a few days, since this was the opportunity to hear that hidden story directly from the person involved, with the people in the crowd pushing past each other, it was only natural that they rushed in frantically.

“……”

Was because it was obvious that the Eldest Young Master himself knew better than anyone that it could not be dismissed as a minor matter.

“…There were rumors that those who went missing or suddenly returned to their hometowns at that time,” over the past ten-odd years, following the collapse of the Grand Patriarch, the secret history of the bloodbath was the most rumored story in the Luoyang Sword Family.

“were actually mostly executed or imprisoned for treason. Was that true?”

“And is it also true that even now, some of them are still alive, confined in the Main Family's underground dungeon whose location is unknown?”

“the talk that Elder Sword Demon did not ascend as an immortal, but was actually executed in connection with that treason…?!”

“Is the rumor that the rebels who were not fully dealt with at that time ended up harming the Grand Patriarch also true?!”

“T-Then…! The story that the Grand Patriarch was secretly away from the Main Family at that time is also…?!”

“At that time, because too many of the Main Family's power holders were involved in the treason, we had no choice but to hide their whereabouts in order to suppress the family's agitation.”

Today's Yeon So-hyeon, to each and every question, answered calmly.

“Indeed, there were those who were imprisoned in the underground dungeon at that time. Though I cannot know if they are still alive to this day.”

“Elder Sword Demon did not participate in the treason, but passed away due to an illness around the same time by chance.”

It was a precious story that could not be heard anywhere else.

“At that time, the treasonous faction was completely uprooted. The Grand Patriarch… that is, my father, being bedridden has nothing to do with them.”

Yeon So-hyeon replied to the last question.

“At that time, it is true that my father was absent.”

Although other questions poured in besides those most of them were either overly sensitive questions or questions based on absurd rumors.

“……”

As he opened his mouth, a voice cracked by heightened emotion flowed out.

“……”

Once the storm of questions swept past, he was the Sect Leader of Zhongnan.

“……”

The eyes of the crowd finally turned to a figure who stood frozen in place without saying a word.

“…The Eldest Young Master.”

“…You say you eliminated all of my martial brothers?”

At that heavy question even those who had been standing in the back row and looked eager to ask some remaining questions because they had been pushed aside, how would the Eldest Young Master answer?

“……”

At least for this very moment, chose to keep their mouths firmly shut.

“……”

The gaze of the crowd naturally shifted back to the Eldest Young Master.

However, unexpectedly, from the Eldest Young Master's mouth, quickly and lightly, the reply flowed out.

“Indeed.”

“I personally ordered your martial brothers to be arrested. Furthermore, I ordered them to be executed.”

The face of the Sect Leader of the Zhongnan Sect, which was already as stiff as it could get cooled down even more frigidly.

“……”

Shiver.

The crowd reflexively shuddered at the sudden chill.

“……!”

In Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment, which was already cool enough to make it hard to believe it was summer it felt as if a midwinter cold wave had suddenly swept in.

“……”

Slowly, a bitter smile appeared on the face of the Sect Leader of the Zhongnan Sect.

“They… my martial brothers, were. Just as the Eldest Young Master said, substandard in every aspect.”

Although his voice was calm

“……”

From the perspective of that night sky, clearly, in truth, his current self, too, in the current State of Zhongyuan, no banner could be raised without capital and power, and with the Luoyang Sword Family at the forefront, over a long period, the era of prestigious families that had accumulated capital and power had begun.

“……”

Because his momentum was still there, the listeners could not lower their guard.

“While calling themselves Daoists, they spent their days engrossed in wine and women. While calling themselves martial artists, their martial arts were always put on the back burner…” a hollow laugh came from his lips.

“For such people to have even joined a treason plot…” the night sky of Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment that he looked up at was indifferently high and infinitely distant.

'…must be not much different from my martial brothers.'

Thus, the efforts of the previous generations of Sect Leaders, which had started to protect the values of the Daoist sect had now, conversely, been devoured by the magical allure of capital and power instead.

'…I, too, am no different.'

The old Daoist recalled the past spring.

The voices heard during the riot at the construction site of the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering arena.

“Please distribute the promised food!”

“Please! Pay us our wages!”

“Our families are starving!”

“Please…!”

He remembered himself ignoring those earnest voices.

'I, too, was not different at all. Not a single bit…' without realizing it, his lips parted.

“…Yuanshi Tianzun.”

How long had it been since he had chanted the Daoist mantra?

Even the name of Yuanshi Tianzun felt unfamiliar.

“……”

Suddenly, as if he had made up his mind with a face that had aged in an instant,

“I apologize.”

Thud.

He fell to his knees.

“I apologize, Eldest Young Master.”

He practically threw his entire body onto the floor.

It was a five-point prostration.

“Even now, representing Zhongnan, I offer this apology.”

The anger he had expressed was anger toward himself, and self-reproach for his endlessly shameful sect.

“And. Thank you.”

“Thank you for doing on behalf of Zhongnan what Zhongnan should have done.”

His voice began to tremble.

“Thank you. Thank you.”

The Eldest Young Master, to such a man slowly approached and patted his shoulder.

“It is fine.”

A smile played on his lips.

“It seems I chose the new Sect Leader of Zhongnan well back then.”

A cool wind blew once, and a thick floral scent wafted through the crowd.

“……”

Some among the crowd simply nodded their heads, on the side of the Third Young Master, some leaders, even among those belonging to the New Martial Alliance, were whispering among themselves in the far back row.

“……”

Some turned their gazes to the flower petals fluttering in Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment to avoid showing their reddened eyes, however, not everyone was convinced by that.

“……”

And some calmly looked up at the bright, round moon that had risen.

“…Even so, isn't that just the Eldest Young Master's one-sided claim…?”

“…It certainly seems so.”

“Is he using the old rumor to deify himself, thinking this is the opportunity…?”

There was someone closely observing each of their faces

“……”

Who had already escaped from the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering venue last spring with his unique survival instinct and excellent senses, and the former Sect Leader of Diancang, who had held the Eldest Young Master's hand, was quietly watching.

'There are only a few who openly distrust him.'

The bloodbath.

What happened ten-odd years ago is not easy to find someone to back up now.

Even if he put someone forward, attacks would focus on the credibility of that witness instead making it highly likely that the witness would be suspected conversely.

“It's nothing but a forced claim.”

“It's demagoguery. It's the Eldest Young Master's scheme.”

Nevertheless there was almost no one in this grand banquet hall paying attention to such talk.

The vast majority, were merely busy sharing the same words and marveling.

“…The rumors that he was in a different league since childhood were true.”

“…If so, could the rumors that he helped with the Patriarch's duties and governed the family since childhood also be true?”

“…If it is that Eldest Young Master, he might have naturally done so.”

'The Eldest Young Master certainly did not prove anything today.'

The former Sect Leader of Diancang, who directed his gaze toward the Eldest Young Master, let out a hollow laugh.

'The Eldest Young Master merely…' since ending his seclusion the Eldest Young Master had only shown moves that added shock upon shock and with all his tracks starting from the Elders' Hall today combined, indeed.

'…he had simply made it so that no matter what he said and what he did, the majority had no choice but to believe and trust him.'

Did the Eldest Young Master deliberately leave only the somewhat usable talent to become the Sect Leader of Zhongnan?

Or was it because the current Sect Leader was a somewhat usable talent that he survived by not participating in such treason?

'Reaching this point, it is something no one can ever know.'

“The floor is cold. Arise now, Sect Leader.”

“No, Eldest Young Master…! I…!”

Looking at the Eldest Young Master wearing a benevolent expression a hollow laugh automatically leaked out.

'…I cannot even dare to distinguish how much of it is fake and how much is real.'

Instinctively, he clearly felt that beneath that benevolent-looking skin of the Eldest Young Master, who resembled the Medicine Fairy, lurked an unprecedented monster wearing a human mask.

However even so, could that face really be called fake?

'…It doesn't matter.'

The die had already been cast.

Informing the leaders of the organizations belonging to the New Martial Alliance on the Third Young Master's side of the current situation and bringing up the story of the bloodbath to greatly agitate them, just like that time, as he stepped forward, he shouted loudly with an intentionally heated tone.

'I merely perform the role assigned to me in this play.'

“Though it is late…!”

“This Sect Leader of Diancang has realized even now!”

As the attention of the crowd instantly gathered he unfastened his sword from his waist and held it high.

“That the only one to whom this sword of Diancang should be offered is the rightful heir of this family, the Eldest Young Master…!”